Read on to learn what causes oxidative damage and how lifestyle medicine, energy medicine and integrative medicine can inhibit and reverse the progression of this harmful physiological process.
Oxidative damage is the underlying factor of metabolic disorders that leads to the development of chronic diseases.
To manage metabolic disorders and disease in our patients, we must address the underlying causes of oxidative damage.
A tongue exam can be an effective, non-invasive method to perform an auxiliary diagnosis any time anywhere, which can support the global need in healthcare systems.
Oxidative stress is the precursor to oxidative damage. Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between the production of free radicals and the body’s ability to counteract their damaging effects through neutralization with antioxidants.
Oxidative damage is the harm sustained by cells and tissues that are unable to keep up with free radical production in the body and the free radical exposure that we are subjected to daily.
To understand why free radicals cause oxidative damage, let’s take a brief trip back to chemistry 101.
A free radical is an uncharged molecule with an unpaired electron in its outermost valence shell. In a quest to fill their partially empty valence shells, free radicals run around the body stealing electrons from other atoms in our cells and tissues. This electron-stealing frenzy oxidatively damages cells, proteins, DNA, impedes bioelectrical flow and is recognized as an underlying factor in many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, autoimmune disease, cancer, and many more. (1, 2, 3, 4)
Oxidative stress affects numerous cellular processes in the body including those of the Primo Vascular System (PVS) that regulate the bioelectrical flow of energy between the cardiovascular, nervous, immune, and hormonal systems.
During our journey from wellness to wellbeing, integrative medicine plays a key role in addressing the root cause of disease. Bioresonance therapy is an energy medicine intervention, it is a term known in the realm of natural health. Energy medicine works to restore the body’s natural frequencies while addressing oxidative damage and stimulating natural healing.
What Causes Oxidative Damage?
Insufficient Antioxidants
Antioxidants protect cell membranes, circulating lipids, cells, and tissues from oxidative damage. Antioxidant insufficiency promotes oxidative damage. It is best to obtain antioxidants from a whole-food, nutrient-dense diet rather than supplements. Studies examining the effects of antioxidant supplements indicate that they have no benefit and may even cause harm; there are several explanations for this surprising phenomenon:
Antioxidants in foods are packaged with cofactors and enzymes that enhance their action and may be better absorbed than synthetic antioxidants.
Other compounds in antioxidant-rich foods may play vital roles in the antioxidant effects of whole foods, producing effects that cannot be replicated with a synthetic, isolated antioxidant.
To increase antioxidant levels, eat plenty of colourful fruits and vegetables. Grass-fed meats are also an excellent source of antioxidants, including vitamin E, glutathione, and the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase. (6)
Rancid Vegetable Oils
Our cell membranes are composed mainly of delicate fatty acids, the composition of which is directly influenced by the types of fats we eat. The consumption of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids has beneficial effects on cell membrane structure and function. Conversely, the consumption of rancid dietary fats compromises cell membrane health and promotes oxidative damage. The primary sources of rancid fats are industrial vegetable oils, including canola, soybean, peanut, and safflower oils.
The combination of inflammation and antioxidant depletion caused by the consumption of industrial vegetable oils propagates a chain reaction of oxidative damage in the body. While it is best to avoid industrial vegetable oils entirely, fresh, whole foods high in omega-6, such as poultry, avocados, and nuts, can be part of a healthy diet.
Chronic Psychological Stress
Research shows that we are more anxious than ever before about finances, politics, health, safety, and relationships. The chronic psychological stress with which many of our patients struggle with, doesn’t just reduce their quality of life; it also promotes oxidative damage through sustained activation of the HPA axis. (10)
Environmental Toxins
The slew of environmental toxins we are exposed to daily is a significant source of oxidative stress. Your work and living environment can further contribute to oxidative stress.
Exposure to particulate air pollution in urban areas, mould in the homes, biotoxins in water, and electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) radiation that we are exposed to daily, all promote oxidative stress by depleting antioxidant reserves. (11, 12)
Plastics are well known for their endocrine-disrupting effects. However, research suggests that plastics also induce oxidative stress. In the body’s attempts to detoxify BPA, a ubiquitous plastic chemical, free radicals are generated via activation of cytochrome P450 enzymes in the liver. The induction of free radicals and oxidative stress by BPA is believed to contribute significantly to the toxicity and carcinogenicity of this compound. (13)
Pesticides and heavy metals also provoke oxidative stress. Exposure to organophosphate insecticides (OPs), the residues of which can be found on conventionally grown fruits and vegetables, induces oxidative stress by activating cytochrome P450 enzymes and by disturbing the cell redox system, which reduces cellular energy and makes cells unable to neutralize free radicals. (14)
Heavy metals, found in dental amalgams, air, soil, and our water supply, induce oxidative stress by altering the activities of key antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase, glutathione-s-transferase, and superoxide dismutase, and catalase. (15)
Circadian Rhythm Dysregulation
Antioxidant enzymes follow a circadian pattern of expression in the body. Research indicates that sleep restriction induces circadian rhythm disruption and increases the expression of oxidative stress markers. (16) Honouring your internal bio-clock increases vitality and stimulates natural healing.
Blue light exposure from LED lights and technological devices also accelerates oxidative stress, especially in the cornea of the eye. (17) We often focus on nutrition and exercise but the timing and hours that we sleep are really crucial as they do more for our body than just rest.
While many still doubt the reality of electro-hypersensitivity (EHS), there's extensive and growing research showing electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) are indeed harmful to human health as they disrupt our circadian cycles and create oxidative stress on the body. (18)
Infections
Oral infections with microbes such as P. gingivalis increase oxidative damage; this may explain why periodontitis is linked to several chronic diseases, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. (18, 19, 20) H. pylori, hepatitis C, and Chlamydia pneumonia infections are associated with higher levels of oxidized LDL, indicating that oxidative stress with an infectious origin plays a role in atherosclerosis. (21, 22, 23)
Physical Inactivity
A sedentary lifestyle increases oxidative stress. (24) Conversely, regular physical activity has a hermetic effect on the body; it induces the production of free radicals in the short term but increases antioxidant production over the long term. (25)
How Can We Prevent Oxidative Damage?
There are many dietary and lifestyle strategies we can implement with our patients to help them prevent oxidative damage. A smart DIY intervention is to pay attention to topicals used daily for hair, body, and skincare. Replace them with antioxidant products such as our Ozone (O₃) BOTANIC range.
Avoid rancid vegetable oils. Avoid processed, packaged foods and toss out any canola, soybean, safflower, sunflower, peanut, or grapeseed oil. When eating out at restaurants, where industrial vegetable oils saturate most foods, patients can ask to have their vegetables cooked in butter and their salads dressed in olive oil. Patients should eat anti-inflammatory fats in extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, wild-caught seafood, and sprouted or lightly roasted nuts and seeds.
Include antioxidant-rich, Alkaline-foods into your diet. Neutralise your body's pH with the right foods, to supply the body with the antioxidants and cofactors it needs to combat oxidative stress.
Daily stress reduction practices: Conscious Breathing, meditation, yoga, spending time in nature, and taking “technology breaks” alleviate chronic stress, which causes oxidative stress when allowed to continue unabated. Structure your day, improve on nutrition, physical activity, stress management, quality sleep, mental health and purposeful living.
Reduce environmental toxin exposure. Stop using pesticides on lawns and gardens. Buy organic food as often as possible, avoid storing food in plastic containers and handling receipts, safely eliminate sources of heavy metal exposure such as dental amalgams, and filter drinking and bathing water. Learn more about the health implications of EMF radiation in your environment.
Nutritional uptake for the gut is as important as the nutrition uptake for the lungs and for the skin. The skin is the largest organ of your body, and because it is porous, it absorbs whatever you put on it including all those preservatives, dies and chemicals listed in your daily topical use. Every time you sanitise your hands or moisturise your skin or wash and style your hair, the chemical ingredients of which they are made of instantly permeate into the deeper layers of your skin causing oxidative damage over time; not to mention the significant amount of toxins ultimately absorb into your bloodstream. Opt for natural antioxidant solutions for hair, body, and skincare.
Pay attention to your circadian rhythm and sleep hygiene. Aim for a regular sleep schedule, avoid blue light at night, distance yourself from EMF-generating devices in the bedroom and expose yourself to sunlight during the day to help sync circadian rhythms.
Treat inflammation and stress. Chronic inflammation from conditions such as diabetes and stress, are significant causes of oxidative stress and must be addressed to halt the free radical cascade. Physical, mental and emotional stress (fears, include the fear of getting sick). Energy medicine and Whole Body Vibration therapy (26) offer a non-pharmacological approach to mitigate chronic inflammation and address oxidative damage.
Exercise regularly.
Aim for 30 minutes of daily exercise, including in it aerobic and breathing exercises to increase cellular oxygenation. Do some barefoot grounding during the day.
A highly oxygenated body is inhospitable to disease and rogue cells from oxidative stress, meaning free radicals cannot survive in a highly oxygenated environment.
Engage your Breath
Uptake on supplemental oxygen inhalation.
Oxygen is the most vital nutrient for the human body. Every cell in the body needs oxygen to complete the metabolic processes that give life.
Oxygen provides the fuel needed by the brain to function properly, and it helps the body fight off infection by boosting the immune system.
Exercise With Oxygen Therapy (EWOT).
Exercise with oxygen therapy introduces a convenient way of delivering oxygen into the cells.
With a basic exercise routine like rebounding or just walking 15min a day, combined with mild oxygen inhalation from a portable oxygen concentrator (POC), one can oxygenate the cells allowing them to recharge and detoxify efficiently as they uptake supplemental oxygen nutrition.
Intranasal Photobiomodulation Therapy (i-PMBT)
The nasal cavity is saturated with blood capillaries of which connect to five major artery pathways that regulate cardiovascular and cerebrovascular function, The application of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) for neuronal stimulation has shown to improve cerebral metabolic activity and blood flow, for the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions.
Nostril-based i-PBMT devices, using either lasers or light emitting diodes (LEDs), can be applied either alone or in combination to transcranial devices (the latter applied directly to the scalp) to treat a wide range of brain conditions such as mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cerebrovascular diseases, depression and anxiety as well as insomnia.
Why intranasal photobiomodulation therapy?
i-PBMT improves oxygenation and leads to increased adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels in various tissues.
Near-Infrared light energy absorbed by blood through the PBM process leads to an increase in nitric oxide (NO) release.
Nitric oxide is one of the most important factors affecting microcirculation. This leads to increases in vasodilation which contributes to improved oxygen delivery to tissues, which is important for maintenance and preventative care.
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